


flesh wounds would hurt less

by jadedgalaxies (Emeraldxoxo)



Category: Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: F/M, Family, Fluff and Angst, Japanese names, Jealousy, siegbert's dealing with some negative emotions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-05
Updated: 2017-02-05
Packaged: 2018-09-22 04:38:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,572
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9583958
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Emeraldxoxo/pseuds/jadedgalaxies
Summary: As Charlotte becomes more like a second mother to all the children at camp, including his own cousins, Siegbert is fraught with jealousy and resentment.





	

**Author's Note:**

> i love the Marx/Charlotte family dynamic and don't tell me Siegbert isn't a huge mama's boy

Siegbert is conflicted. On one hand, leaving his deep realm to join his Aunt Kamui’s army was the best decision he’s ever made. He got to be with his parents and family every day which was something he never had in his deep realm. On the other hand, his mother was too kind, too loving and Siegbert would be dammed before he admitted he was jealous.

He will admit it’s hard _not_ to love the Queen of Nohr. Since being with his father, she’s opened up in a way many troops didn’t think was possible, motherly and kind. Charlotte’s affectionate and if ripped enemies in half if they so much as looked in the general direction of the children. Some of his friends even came up to him and accidentally called _his_ mother _mom_.

So yeah, maybe he’s jealous. Whatever.

“Siegbert, darling~!” Charlotte calls, draping her arms around his shoulders in the mess hall. He blushes, without meaning to, and sets his spoon down.

“Motherrrr,” he whines, “I’m eating.” Charlotte lets go of him but she shoos Marx down a seat to sit next to Siegbert. She’s wearing a dress Siegbert’s never seen, sea-foam green and tight fitted with bows decorating the bodice.

Charlotte snags a piece of bread from Marx’s tray and ignores any of his protests before she pouts a little. “Darling isn’t a mother allowed to hug her son?” Siegbert doesn’t really have an answer for that so he returns to his soup but he can’t help but glance at her dress. And unfortunately for the Crown Prince, nothing escapes his mother’s perceptive gaze. “Do you like the dress dear? Foleo made it for me.”

Siegbert grinds his teeth. He loved his cousin, truly, but his mother can be high-maintenance when she wants to be so he doesn’t doubt she spent a lot of time with Foleo to get this dress to her liking. “It’s nice,” he says, fighting the bitterness in his voice. If Charlotte notices – which she probably did – she doesn’t say anything.

“Auntie!” Kanna says, tugging at the hem of Charlotte’s dress. Charlotte turns, scooping the small blonde boy into her arms. Siegbert shovels soup into his mouth. “Brother and I found these for you,” he tells her, shoving a handful of wildflowers in her face. Siegbert drowns his snort in a mouthful of bread and earns a concerned look from his father.

“They’re lovely, Kanna!” she says, letting him stick the stems in her hair. He babbles on before Uncle Leon is calling him away and he sticks to his own mother’s side.

“Mother,” Siegbert begins, losing a little momentum when Lutz flies into the room and waves at her, “what’s your favourite kind of flower?”

“Hmm…” Charlotte hums. “Roses,” she decides, “ever since your father covered our marital bed in rose petals, that is.” Siegbert blushes.

“Charlotte!” Marx admonishes but the redness to his cheeks ruins any semblance of scolding. Charlotte pinches his thigh and smiles at her son.

“Regardless! I love all flowers,” Charlotte says, “why are you thinking of getting me some?”

Siegbert just gives her his last roll of bread, hoping to deflect some of his embarrassment. Although, moments later his retainer, Soleil, betrays him by bringing his mother some sweets she picked up in town. He doesn’t know what to say while she charms his mother and Lazwald is muttering in Marx’s ear.

Is there some kind of Charlotte fan-club he isn’t aware of and should likely be the founder to? It’s frustrating, seeing his friends and cousins fawn over his mother… and maybe it hurt more that she reciprocated. During his entire life, up until his parents agreed he was old enough to take care of himself, his parents were absent. His mother only visited his deep-realm a handful of times and for a few days at most. He is seventeen and, perhaps he shouldn’t feel so possessive of his mother, but he does. Siegbert doesn't _want_ his friends to receive her attention.

He’d feel the same about his father if Marx was a more open person. He tries to drown the ugly resentment burning in his gut.

Charlotte waves to Soleil as she leaves with Lazwald. The box of sweets in her hands is well decorated; Siegbert supresses the urge to knock it from her hands. She takes her time undoing the bow and opens the box to reveal a beautifully decorated cupcake and macarons. Siegbert is baffled by the fact Soleil could find a bakery that sold macarons in the middle of a war.

“Darling, here,” Charlotte says, handing Siegbert more than half of the macarons. He holds the sweets, wondering if she remembered him telling her he loved them. She stops Lutz when he runs by to give him the cupcake. His voice comes out a little strangled as he accepts the cupcake and runs off with the treat. She’s left with a modest three macarons and even feeds one to Marx.

“Mother,” Siegbert says, “Soleil brought these for you, I don’t think I –”

“Nonsense,” she sniffs, “you love macarons and I’m sure Soleil knows this too.” She taps his nose and gets to her feet when Tsubaki calls for her to help with the armoury. “Enjoy those, love, I’ll see you later.” She leans over to kiss Siegbert on the cheek and Marx on the mouth before hurrying over to Tsubaki. She gives her last macaron to Shinonome who’s being teased by his own mother, Aunt Camilla.

Siegbert huffs and Marx glances at him. “Why don’t you just _talk_ to your mother?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he says, feigning disinterest and detangles himself from the bench, excusing himself.

* * *

Days later, Siegbert finds himself in the worst possible predicament. He was looking for Charlotte, in hopes of playing against her in chess, and found her surrounded by his so-called friends. He didn’t think they really wanted anything from Charlotte, but on closer inspection, it really seemed like they were treating her as a second mom ( _as if their_ own _mothers weren’t within walking distance_ ) and she appeared to return their sentiments.

For a prolonged moment of suffering, Siegbert watched his mother _mother_ his friends before he stiffly spun around and stomped off. He felt ridiculous, like a petulant child and not the future King of Nohr, for getting so upset by this. It’s not like his friends knew it bothered him, it’s not like _Charlotte_ knew either. He just felt like she _should_ know and that’s not entirely fair of him but he doesn’t really care at the moment. Right now, he wants to hug his mother and tell her everything that's bothering him.

He stalks off to the edge of camp and sinks down on a log to either cry or sulk, he hasn’t made up his mind yet, when Charlotte calls out his name.

“I don’t want to talk right now, mother,” he says, his voice muffled by his knees. A moment later, Charlotte is kneeling in front of him, pulling him into one of her amazing hugs. Tears prickle at the corners of his eyes.

“I saw you run off, my darling,” she mutters against his hair. He digs his fingers into his knees. “What’s wrong, love?”

The bubble of frustration, anger and resentment that had grown burst and in a mess of words, he confessed to his mother, “Am I not good enough? You love everyone at camp so much… you’re like a mother to all my friends but… you’re _my_ mother! You’re _my_ mother and yet… you give so much more attention to all my friends and I… do you not… love me anymore?” Tears burn rivets down his cheeks, a ripple of shame and other emotions Siegbert is too tired to identify fill him.

Charlotte’s grip on Siegbert tightened. “Siegbert, no baby, no! Mommy loves you more than anyone in this world, including your father! You are my _everything_ Siegbert and I’m so sorry I wasn’t giving you the love and attention you needed. I thought you were pulling away from me and were too grown up to want me to love you more openly. Siegbert, no matter what, I will always love you more than anything and I promise to tone it down with your friends. I am so sorry my darling.”

Siegbert throws his arms around her, squeezing his mother back with all his might. “Thank you mother,” he sobs against her neck. Charlotte holds him, for as long as Siegbert needed, warm and loving. He pulls away, eventually, extracting himself from Charlotte’s bear hug (and he’s probably going to regret it because he could already feel the dull ache in his ribs) and says, “If it’s you mother, I don’t mind.”

He meets his mother’s eyes and is a little stunned to see the tear stains on her pretty face. But she’s smiling like he’s gone and given her the moon. “If that’s the case, you should go back to calling me mommy again.”

Siegbert flushes but it doesn’t dampen the good mood he’s slowly falling in. “ _Mom_ ,” he groans but nevertheless hugs her again.

She laughs lovingly in his ear. “It’s a start.”

He smothers his embarrassment long enough to mutter, “I love you,” against her shoulder. Although, the embarrassment nearly ran him through when Charlotte had to rush him to Elise for healing when her hug accidentally broke his rib.

Worth it.

**Author's Note:**

> siegbert loves his mom more than anything


End file.
